‘HARDBODY’ AN EXAMPLE OF REGIONAL-TO-BROADWAY DONE RIGHT

When “Hands on a Hardbody” begins performances in New York this month, it will hands-down become the Broadway musical with the most NC-17-sounding title — at least until “Kinky Boots” arrives in March. (But don’t fret, families: The title refers to a vehicle chassis, nothing unchaste.)

“Hardbody” is poised to claim another distinction as well: In the long history of shows exported from La Jolla Playhouse to Broadway, it’ll be the first such musical to have been not just developed at the Playhouse but originally commissioned by the theater.

In that way, it adds a new wrinkle to what has been at times a controversial topic in theater circles: the role of nonprofit regional companies such as the Playhouse and the crosstown Old Globe Theatre in incubating and producing work that winds up on commercial stages.

These are, after all, publicly supported institutions meant to exist for the benefit of the local community, not for the enrichment of Broadway producers. The argument from those troubled by the rise of the regional-to-Broadway pipeline is that it risks enticing nonprofit theaters to chase Broadway bait — programming splashy, mass-appeal work rather than the more grass-roots art that regional theaters were meant to foster.

Of course, such arrangements offer benefits to the local theaters, too — potentially huge ones that arguably can help support a bona fide artistic mission.

Once upon a time, producers angling to land a show on Broadway would simply rent a theater in Boston or Hartford, put up their production and give the show a classic out-of-town tryout. The idea was to gauge audience reaction and figure out potential fixes to the piece, relatively free from media scrutiny.

Now, most pre-Broadway productions follow a more complicated path. A typical scenario: Producers with a bead on what might be a hot theatrical property bring it to a regional theater, complete with what are known as “enhancement” funds — money to plump up the nonprofit’s staging. (The money, which can be tax-deductible, runs from the hundreds of thousands of dollars into the millions.)

The local theater gets to roll out a more fully realized show than it otherwise could have afforded, with the (slim) potential of a financial windfall down the road (through royalties) if the property becomes a Broadway hit.

The producers get a chance to see how the show fares onstage before a paying audience, and benefit from the expertise of the theater’s in-house artists and designers.

Everyone wins. Except, maybe, playgoers who missed out on witnessing some new, exciting but little-heralded work that didn’t get produced, and whose creators didn’t get the support to develop their ideas.

While such partnerships have long since become commonplace, you can bet they’re still a sensitive topic.

This fall, the Old Globe will stage the world premiere of “The Honeymooners,” a musical based on the classic ’50s television series. It’s the kind of show that has Broadway ambition written all over it.

But at a recent forum with local press, Barry Edelstein, the theater’s new artistic director, was quick to praise the show’s script (by two TV veterans) and explain his position on such productions.

Edelstein said he’s comfortable with producing work that has Broadway aspirations “provided it’s the right thing for this theater to do.” The litmus test, he added, is this: “It has to be a piece I would do anyway.”

Which brings us back to “Hardbody.” More than most Broadway-bound shows that have originated here, the musical feels rooted in its home theater and the network of artist relationships it has built. The Playhouse commissioned the piece from Doug Wright, the playwright who won a Pulitzer Prize for “I Am My Own Wife” — a work that began life in La Jolla in 2001.

He has stayed connected with the theater, premiering his adaptation of August Strindberg’s “Creditors” there in 2009.

Trey Anastasio, the Phish leader who composed the “Hardbody” score with songwriter-lyricist Amanda Green, also took pains to hire local musicians for the La Jolla production (although the show was not locally cast). And the project, based on a documentary film about a quirky endurance contest, came out of a Playhouse development process that has been admirably active and innovative in fostering new work under artistic chief Christopher Ashley.

(Edelstein says the Globe will broaden such efforts under his leadership, and focus on stepping up local casting.)

When a show like “Hardbody” makes it to Broadway by putting an artistic vision first — rather than taking cues from the availability of outside funding — it gets harder to argue that the regional theater’s sense of mission has gone missing.